Superhuman Healthcare – Herniated Discs

Herniated discs are no joke. The first time I got one I was commuting to NYC every week. Schlepping a roller suitcase through the crowded subways did a number on my neck. I woke up one day with a very bad pain radiating down my arm.

In yoga we talk about the difference between good pain and bad pain. 

  • Good pain is a generalized discomfort that results from increasing your performance level. Good pain is an indicator that you are progressing with proper alignment and awareness of your personal limitations.
  • Bad pain is sharp, shooting and localized. It’s a red flag that your body communicates to say STOP what you are doing immediately.

A herniated disc (also called a ruptured or slipped disk) is an excellent example of bad pain. They can occur anywhere in the spine, but most often will occur in the cervical spine (neck) or lumbar spine (lower back). Typically a herniated disc causes a pinched nerve, leading to numbness or tingling in the neck, arm, lower back or leg. It causes pain, weakness, and/or numbness.

The good news is that up to 90% of patients can be treated without surgery. I’m a huge advocate for avoiding surgery whenever possible. And it can be helpful to know what kinds of alternative treatments are available and how they work.

This past January I ruptured my neck again (admittedly, it’s the weak link in my chain). I did it while sleeping incorrectly and it took about two months to heal. Part of what slowed the process was that I didn’t take time off. I was doing a LOT of desk work while trying to keep up with my normal exercise routines.

Pain is a great teacher.

Thankfully, I had the help of one of the top tier Oriental medical providers in America – Avi Ginsberg, a.k.a. Jin Wei. He’s helped me on countless occasions over the past twelve years, including one time when I got a serious viral infection.

Avi has an arsenal of therapies that he uses in his treatments, all of which are built upon his signature style of bodywork. The foundation of external therapy in Oriental medicine is Tui Na, or Chinese medical massage. It’s somewhat like Rolfing, as his technique is a unique form of non-invasive reconstructive surgery.

In addition to Tui Na, Avi gave me acupuncture multiple times. After administering over 30,000 treatments he’s mastered a painless needling technique. During one of his treatments I fell asleep on the table! This is not uncommon but it was a first for me.

He also used cupping therapy to help increase circulation. Cupping is amazing. It feels like deep tissue massage and is great for immediate pain relief. One time Avi combined a cupping treatment with Gua Sha, another ancient massage technique. According to Wikipedia:

Gua sha, meaning “scraping sha-bruises”, is a traditional Chinese medical treatment in which the skin is scraped to produce light bruising. Practitioners believe gua sha releases unhealthy elements from injured areas and stimulates blood flow and healing.

Again, this is deep tissue medical massage. It’s not for cosmetic purposes, it’s for getting to the root of the problem which may involve good pain. One of Avi’s clients (a retired nurse) used the analogy of how you wouldn’t try to fix acne by covering it with make up. You have to dig deep sometimes which is why a solid yoga practice is so helpful with navigating the healing process.

I’m very grateful to be pain-free after receiving such wonderful care. I’m rebuilding my strength and I’m happy to be practicing handstands again.

For more information about Dr. Avi Ginsberg please visit Hatch Chiropractic and Wellness

If you enjoyed this article you might also like:

Five Animals Qigong Online Class Series

Teaching Philosophy

Gold Coin

Superhuman Healthcare – Viral Infection

The roulette wheel of life delivers the occasional hard knock to us all, and as luck would have it I got hit with a serious viral infection. We’re talking about the kind of sickness that will put most people in the hospital where they’ll possibly undergo surgery. It was REALLY bad. I’m not quite sure how it happened, except that I might have picked it up on one of my five hour commutes through New York City.

At first I thought it was food poisoning but then I developed a severe radiating pain in the right side of my jaw. I could barely chew my food – eating was painful and exhausting. The icing on the cake was I had just started a ten day housesitting job in Connecticut and had no way to access medical attention.

That was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done.

As soon as it was over I went to see Dr. Avi Ginsberg. He’s an Oriental medical provider and has been my primary care physician for over ten years. He diagnosed my condition as being an extreme case of “toxic heat” in the stomach channel. Dr. Avi proceeded to bombard the virus with remedies for clearing heat and building immunity. The arsenal of therapies that he used to treat me included:

  • Acupuncture
  • Chinese herbs (antibiotics)
  • Cupping therapy
  • Magnets
  • Qi Gong
  • Mung bean pudding
  • Watermelon
  • Daikon radish
  • Peppermint tea
  • Tamarind juice
  • Colloidal silver
  • Vitamin C powder
  • Mouthwashes (salt water, baking soda, peroxide, vinegar, vodka)
  • Raw garlic
  • Alum powder
  • Watermelon frost
  • A mysterious black powder he got in Chinatown
  • Red flower oil
  • Far Infrared heat therapy
  • Moxibustion

The beauty of these ancient remedies, folk medicines, and alternative therapies is that they do not deplete the body. 

After a week I was 80% better, and after a month I’d healed completely. By allowing my body to heal through what I call “superhuman healthcare” I am healthier and stronger than I was before I got sick.

I’m sharing this with you because I want to help people understand how powerful and empowering alternative medicine is. It IS possible to heal from extreme viral attacks without toxic pharmaceuticals, surgery, or obscenely expensive medical bills.

Needless to say, I am very, very grateful to Dr. Avi for his help and I highly recommend his expertise to all of my friends. He provides Traditional Oriental Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Dietary and Herbal Therapy, and Exercise Therapy in Parker, Colorado. For more information please visit Hatch Chiropractic and Wellness.

If you enjoyed this article you might also like:

Superhuman Healthcare – Herniated Discs

A Taste of Divinity – Raw Cacao

Gold Coin

Mind Your Feet

 

Emily Seymour Yoga Mind Your Feet

Pounding the pavement in New York City is an adventure. Everyone walks there. Some people would rather walk thirty blocks than ride the subway. It’s so easy to get swept up in the sea of people, with the sensory-overload of sights, sounds, and smells all around you. It can be overwhelming but staying in tune with our bodies makes it easier to navigate these kinds of obstacle courses. One of the easiest ways to stay connected to our bodies is by focusing on our feet.

Feet are kind of a big deal:

  • There are 26 bones, 33 joints, 19 muscles, 10 tendons and 107 ligaments in the foot
  • The soles of your feet contain more sensory nerve ending than per square centimeter than any other part of the body
  • There are approximately 250,000 sweat glands in your feet
  • The average person takes 10,000 steps per day
  • Women are four times more likely to have foot problems than men (due to wearing high heels)
  • 90% of American women wear shoes that are too small for their feet

Feet Reflexology Massage Chart
Foot Reflexology Chart

Walking on hard surfaces takes a major toll on our feet. You can walk for miles in the woods without getting tired but walking around in a mall can be exhausting. The way our feet connect with the ground affects our whole bodies. Being unconscious of our feet can induce any number of alignment issues, pain, and disabilities.

The simple act of walking can be an exercise in mindfulness if we so choose. One simple technique that I use for walking is to stay aware of the four corners of my feet – the big toes, little toes, inner and outer heels. Some other tips for walking mindfully include:

  1. Keep your feet parallel.
  2. Plant the heel and roll through the foot evenly.
  3. Keep a 50/50 weight distribution between your inner and outer heels.
  4. Roll through the foot towards the direction of your second toe. Your big toes will take on more of the weight, but keep your pinkie toes active.
  5. Relax the soles of your feet. Imagine that you’re massaging the ground with each step.

Emily Seymour Yoga FeetYou can also play with finding the balance between the two sides of your feet. Too much weight in the inner arch will cause pronation of the feet (rolling the feet towards one another) and too much weight in the outer arch of the foot will cause supination (rolling the feet away from one another).

It’s always a good idea to conclude a day on your feet with a foot massage. I teach an easy and effective foot massage sequence in my Foundations Training course.

For more information book a FREE no-obligation consultation today.